4 Ways to Earn Money in Surface Design - #1 Licensing
Hello my friend, and welcome to this week's blog. I’m excited to share that I’m starting a new series, all about the different ways that you can make money in Surface Design. Over the course of the next four weeks, we’ll break down each of four major categories so that you can understand how each one works and determine which one(s) might be the best fit for you.
The four main categories are: Licensing, Direct Selling, Indirect Selling, and Workshops or Teaching. Within each category, there are many options for selling your artwork and designs. These main categories are helpful as an overall framework. As you learn about each one, pay attention to what resonates for you. That will help guide where you want to focus and where you’ll likely have the most success.
Let’s start with licensing. If you’ve always dreamed of putting your designs on fabric, this might be a great option for you. It’s important to be aware that licensing takes time, and I’ll get into that today. But once you get the ball rolling, it’s a wonderful way to earn a living or make extra money on the side.
How Licensing Works.
In a nutshell, a licensed designer is someone who’s been hired by a company to create seasonal collections. The type, timing and number of collections is negotiated up front before you sign a contract. As the designer, you get paid a % of either retail or wholesale sales. The percentage varies but is generally between 3-8%. You get paid after your collection has sold in stores and the company that hired you can assess how much of those sales are attributable to your designs. While that may sound like a long timeframe, and generally it can take up to 18 months before you receive your first licensing payment, it’s worth the wait.
Licensing is interesting and lucrative over time because you can license the same designs across multiple industries and countries. The key is to ensure that your contract stipulates what industry each company can use your design in and what countries they are allowed to sell in. You get the idea, right? You could sell designs to company X for housewares in the US and sell those same designs to company Y for housewares in Europe. Alternatively, you could sell designs to company X for housewares in the US and sell those same designs to company Y for stationery products in the US.
How do you get from where you are right now to a licensing contract? Here are the four key steps to follow.
Step 1: Create a Body of Work.
Honing your signature style and being able to showcase your talents is job one. The more unique and recognizable your style is, the more differentiated you become in the marketplace. Don’t copy someone else’s style. That’s not going to work. Lean into your own personal style whether that’s a particular color palette you love, themes you love, or the type of mark making that lights you up.
In addition to honing your signature style, you need to learn how to create illustrations and repeating patterns using Adobe Illustrator. Illustrator is the industry standard because it transforms your artwork into vectors. Vector artwork can be resized without losing any quality. That means when you send a design file to a company, they can resize your work, if necessary, to make it fit on products perfectly. And it will still be crisp, in focus and beautiful.
Achieving a signature style takes practice. Be patient with yourself because this process really can’t be rushed. Give yourself grace and remind yourself why you’re pursuing this in the first place. That will refresh your motivation whenever you need a boost.
Step 2: Design a Unique Portfolio.
There are two main types of portfolios: digital or online portfolios and physical portfolios. It’s helpful to have both because you may want to send a physical portfolio to the top companies you’d like to be licensed with to make a bigger impression. There’s a lot that goes into a beautiful portfolio from the way your collections are laid out, to mock-ups that help companies see your work on real products and in real situations. Include your contact information and think about including a few loose-leaf designs as well.
Frequently design companies have meetings where they put designs they are considering on a concept wall. Make sure your name and contact information is on these pieces so that they can easily identify who the design belongs to in case they decide they want to use it.
When it comes to your digital portfolio, these are generally accessible on your website behind a password protected area. When a company is interested in seeing more of your work, you can send them the password for easy access. This is a great way for you to continue to update your work and give companies the opportunity to explore what’s new.
Step 3: Build Your Network.
A question I get asked all the time is: How do I find out who to contact? There are several ways to find out who the decision makers are at companies looking to license new designers. However, that’s not the first question you need to ask yourself.
The first question you should be asking is: “What are my dream companies and is my artwork likely to be a good fit for them?” It’s your job to make a list of the top 50 companies that you’d love to be licensed with. Then you need to work your way through that list and figure out who the Art Director is. Just like looking for a job, you need to be laser focused and not think that you can just send a portfolio and a cover letter to those companies and assume that you’ll get a good result.
Art Directors are busy! You need to figure out how to get their attention and one of the best ways to do that is to meet them in person at a trade show. I realize that many trade shows are only happening virtually right now. But that’s actually an advantage because it gives you more time to get your act together.
Step 4: Make Contact and Persevere.
You need to have a thick skin and a lot of patience because it’s likely that you will get more “no’s” than “yeses” when you are first starting out. The key is to stay positive, organized and continue to target companies that make the most sense. Remember when you were looking for a job? You didn’t send your resume out to 100 companies. That’s not effective. You probably networked with your school and with family and friends, to identify companies where someone knew someone or where there was indeed a job opening that was a good fit for you.
The same applies here. And staying organized is really important. Create a spreadsheet to keep track of everything. List each of the companies you’re interested in and gather as much information about them as possible: the company name, the art director’s name, a physical address, phone numbers and emails if you can get them. Add columns to keep track of when you’ve contacted them, if you received a response, and when you plan to follow up again.
Be patient and remind yourself that you’re in this for the long haul. Keep following up! You never know when something in your portfolio becomes the perfect fit. Don’t give up. It may take time but it’s worth it!
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Enrollment is OPEN to my free mini-course, From Doodles to Dollars®. Discover how to take a doodle or sketch and turn it into a beautiful repeating pattern using the magic of Adobe Illustrator. This is a key skill you need if you’re interested in becoming a licensed designer.
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Bye for now. And I'll see you next week.
Remember,
It’s Never Too Late to Create®
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MEET ANNE
Hi…I’m Anne!
My creative inspiration comes from a lifetime of observation. I grew up in Paris on the Place St. Sulpice and walked to school through the Luxembourg gardens. And that was only the beginning… Learn more by watching the video on my About page.
